Friday 10 July 2015

Marvel Flashback: Thor Annual #7 (1978)



Thor Annual #7 (Marvel Comics)

Roy Thomas (w) Walt Simonson & Ernie Chan (a)

The 1978 Thor Annual is a pivotal moment in the development of the Marvel comics as the Eternals, Deviants and most of all, the Celestials enter the shared MU. It's a big story with repercussions that remain with us until today.

The Eternals was a series created by Jack Kirby that introduced a sort of Chariot of the Gods concept to comic books. At first it seemed that this was a stand alone title that didn't fit in the Marvel Universe and was championed as such by many fans myself included at the time.

However the Bullpen took a different view and with this annual published a year or so after the cancellation of The Eternals own magazine the whole caboodle was thrown into the fray.

The Eternals revolved around cosmic beings known as the Celestials who had seeded intelligence on the ape like creatures that inhabited the Earth. They visited each of their experiments four times. The fourth and final visitation was due in just 50 years.

Just a heartbeat for an immortal like Thor who is given the knowledge of his previous meeting with the Eternals when the host made their third visit.

The storyline was to pan out in Thor's own monthly magazine for quite a long time and is worth collecting.

This is adventure on a grand scale.

Highly recommended. 

 

Worth starting with Kirby's original series which ran for 19 issues plus one annual in 1976/77. They were available as a two volume trade paperback a few years back if you can get your hands on these.

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